Captain Noel, is what you might call a sailor's sailor. Noel is friendly, fun-loving, easy-going and solidly built and just the kind of experienced mariner you'd want at the helm in a mid-ocean gale.

His maritime experience began in the waters off HIlton Head Island where he sailed catamarans, dinghies and fished as a kid, never far from the water. During the summers of high school and college years he worked on private yachts, crewboats and supply boats in the Gulf of Mexico.

Noel has worked as an electronics and computer systems engineer for Dr. Ing. Rudolph Hell, gmbh in Kiel, West Germany and for the NYT Companies setting up computer systems for subsidiary newspapers. The disparate entries on his resume include sailing instructor at the Diego Garcia Yacht Club in the Indian Ocean and sailboat racing in the San Francisco Bay.

He has sailed on LMSR navy supply ships and has made several trips to the Middle East in support of operation Iraqi Freedom.

On any given day you can find Noel surfing the gulf on his longboard, riding his BMW motorbike or delivering yachts on the east and gulf coasts.